I'm torn. I have played the game for the first time on Monday, then I played it once more yesterday, and... I feel like I had enough of the game. This game was promised to be a return to form in terms of collect-a-thons, but... we got something worse than that. This is painful for me to say, because I wanted to like the game, but... don't get me wrong, the controls aren't all that bad, and the music also isn't bad either, but... the game is just compounded by awful game design choices that don't take into account the player's time. I'll summarize this in some points, comparing with some of the older Rare 3D games:

- The game tries too hard to be Banjo-Tooie with expansive worlds, but with the bigger amount of collectibles, it means that it's harder to keep track of where everything it is, and there's not a handy guide that tells you where stuff is. Sticking to old conventions to a fault.
- The game is trying to emulate Banjo-Kazooie in terms of the lack of shortcuts inside worlds, but it fails in that regard, since the worlds are much bigger than the ones from that game, so going from point A to point B is nowhere as fast.
- I haven't seen those yet, but there's a severe lack of handy shortcuts. You can only have so many movement options, and they can feel like a slog. At least Banjo-Tooie had shortcuts, same thing with DK64.
- A huge emphasis on backtracking. No ways to get everything with what you learned in a single world, you need moves from other worlds to fully clear it, I guess. They want to emulate Banjo-Tooie so hard in that regard, but in a more egregious way that it feels like a chore.

In short, the game feels playable, but I feel like it sticks to old conventions and the bad design choices of yore on purpose, but even more egregiously. It's also quite devoid in depth. The worlds are big, but barely it feels like what you're doing is either worth your time.

If you're a die-hard fan of the old conventions of the Rare collect-a-thons, by all means, give it a try, but for now, I'll suggest for you to pass on this title and play something else.

Okay, so it took me quite a bit, but here we are, my review for Final Fantasy V PR. We have quite a bit to unpack, so let's sit down and discuss the elements:

STORY

Magic crystals that power the natural world with their elements begin to crack and shatter for mysterious reasons. In this adventure you'll join a world-travelling wanderer, a princess, a pirate captain and an amnesiac old man, on their quest to save the crystals and save the world in a light-hearted, colorful adventure. Come see for yourself what keeps players engaged!

The translation of the game is based in the GBA version, with some adjustments here and there, so that's a plus in my part.

GRAPHICS

The graphics look pretty much vintage and similar to SFC FFV. It brings a feeling of familiarity, unlike the previous FFV version of PC. It has some fancy new effects and stuff, but nothing too spectacular. It meets the purpose of replicating the vintage look of the original, which for me, it's enough in my eyes.

GAMEPLAY

Oh, yes, the meat and potatoes of the game, the gameplay. Final Fantasy V brings back the Active Time Battle bar, which determines the order in battle. Unlike the original SFC version and the GBA version, the ATB works like in Final Fantasy VI and latter entries, where the bar starts at 0, and the agility and weight determines how fast the bar will fill, which makes some skills more versatile than in the original, like Haste. The battle system, otherwise, is mostly similar to the previous entry, in which you insert your commands to use, either to attack your enemies, defend, or serve as support.

As we mentioned in the story department, this game brings back the Job Class System from Final Fantasy III, but more refined. Each class has its own set of abilities (in battle or outside battle), strengths and weaknesses. Let's take for example the six job classes you get at first:

- Knight: A strong physical-based class, with high-enough stamina, albeit rather slow. They have skills that can help to cover your party members from physical attacks, or guard physical attacks for a turn.
- Thief: The fragile speedster class. They can steal from enemies and attack swiftly with knives. They're rather weak physically (both in strength and stamina) to compensate. In the overworld, they have the ability to find secret passages, and adding more running speed to the character.
- Monk: The brawler of the group. They're really strong and they have the highest stamina of the job classes in the game. They have abilities to attack all enemies, focus for a stronger attack, or to defend. They have a low defense due to a lack of good equipment draw, though.
- White Mage / Black Mage: Squishy Wizards. The former being pure support with its healing magic, while the latter serves as an offensive magic class. They're kind of slow, and rather squishy physically, but their magical prowess compensate those traits.
- Blue Mage: This job class is rather unique. By itself, it doesn't seem too spectacular, but... don't underestimate the power of the Blue Mage. They can learn skills from getting attacked by some special attacks from enemies, which doesn't seem too crazy, until you realize that they learn some rather nasty spells and some amazing support spells, so they become one of the most versatile job classes in the entire game, carrying both offensive and support treats.

Unlike in the original FFIII (Famicom version), and like FFIII PR, you can freely switch your job classes to your own liking, and make your own combinations to suit your strategies. Some of the characters have some better stats than others at certain ones, but the differences are rather minimal, so you can make party compositions the way you want to, and the more you progress into the game, you get more and more job classes to play and experiment with. Give it a try! It's quite the robust system, all things considered.

And of course, let's not forget that this version of the game brings the usual QoL features from the previous PR games: A map to check on treasures, a permanent quick save and an auto save on each floor of a dungeon, auto-battle that repeats the last action made by your characters in battle, between others.

Just a fair warning: At the time of this review, there's some glaring bugs that are going to hopefully be solved in a future patch. I'll update the review when this happens:

- Multi-hit attacks that can do more than 3 hits can break enemy and boss scripts.
- Enemy attacks that can cause status ailments, if you use Guard or Golem, they will nullify the attack, but you'll still get afflicted by the status effects.

But otherwise, it's quite an enjoyable experience in the gameplay department. There's things changed here and there about some mechanics, some balance changes, between other things, but it's a minor thing in the grand scheme of things.

MUSIC

As per usual, the arrangements on FFV PR are quite top notch. Some melodies ganed some new flair that the originals didn't have (Sorrows of Parting gained a wailing choir in the second half of the song), some got interesting changes (like Battle on the Big Bridge got some whimsical trumpets in the last third of the song, which represents the goofy nature of the opponent which represents this melody, not really all that bothered by this change, honestly, as the rest of the song is pretty top-notch, or Harvest ganing some flair from a festive song with the bagpipes and a whistle right at the end, to represent somehow the end of a dance), some more or less stayed the same (The Evil Lord REDACTED still sounds as menacing as ever, same with The Final Battle, Dear Friends, between others), and some songs reached a high pinnacle on their arrangements (The Dawn Warriors is a stand-out arrangement for me, Prelude to the Void gained a better sense of emptyness, which makes it more eerie, and the Ending Theme being more amazing than the usual flair). All in all, a superb soundtrack arrangement, with melodies for each moment.

FINAL WORDS

Do I recommend this game? If you haven't played another version of the game before, I will recommend it. If you had the previous version of the game from Steam before it got delisted, or if you already have another version of the game, I'd say, stick with those versions, but for what it is, I'd say that the Pixel Remaster version is still a recommended version for me. I got a lot of enjoyment from this one, and even if the grinding to complete all the job classes was a chore, I don't regret doing this a single bit.

This was a great piece of entertainment we almost considered lost in the west due to the licensing issues in regards of Sherlock Holmes... no, sorry, I mean, Herlock Sholmes. This game is a duology of games originally released in japan on the 3DS and mobile devices, coming together in a single package for a better enjoyment.

The story is simple. You take control of Ryunosuke Naruhodo, the ancestor of Phoenix Wright, a student who, due to circumstances, decided to travel to London to become a lawyer. I won't give further details, as being a Visual Novel, the story is a part of the broad experience, and I want to say, the story tidies it in a neat package. There's whimsical characters that you'll meet, hateable characters, likeable characters, having a certain beat to them that can identify them with their own brand of charm, like in previous Ace Attorney games.

Gameplay is simple enough to understand: As in previous Ace Attorney games, there's two segments of gameplay: Trial and Investigation segments. The former adds a new gameplay mechanic with the Jury System, in which you need to convince the jurors and find contradictions in their claims, while the latter adds some parts called the "Dance of Deduction" that you'll perform with the Great Detective Sher-- I mean, Herlock Sholmes, in which you need to follow his deductions and solve the contradictions in that performance. The gameplay structure is a bit more different than in previous AA games. Instead of a Investigation > Trial > Investigation > Trial, the game may mix things up in this kind of structure, so it feels refreshing in a way.

The music is superb. It has a varied assortment of melodies: Serious melodies, goofy melodies, jaunty melodies, or awesome melodies. Each one fills a specific mood, which helps to enhance the experience.

All in all, if you have played previous Ace Attorney games, I recommend it, as it's a refreshing experience for the fans of the franchise, and even if you haven't played an AA before, this is a self-contained package, just keep in mind that if you play this one before the other ones (like the Ace Attorney Trilogy), the quality would feel a bit jarring, but in any case, I still recommend it.

Okay... that was a bit of a rollercoaster. Let me preface this by saying that I have played other versions of FFIV before: The SNES american version, the GBA version and the DS version, so how this version stacks against the other 2D versions of the game? Let's find out.

First and foremost, let's address the elephant in the room, and one of the biggest sore points in this version of the game for most people: The difficulty. This is, by far, one of the easiest 2D versions of FFIV, but... do I think it's a bad game because of that? No, of course not. I'll be honest? This has to be one of the most accessible versions of the game so far. Of course, your mileage may vary, and if this is a determining factor for not liking the game, that's your opinion and I respect that.

Besides the Quality of Life features shared with the other games in the Pixel Remaster series (a map with a treasure and hidden item tracker, quick saving inside dungeons, auto-saving on each floor of a dungeon, etc...), there's some more commodities added to the mix:

- The Exp. Levels requirements are cut in half. This is one of the main reasons why this version can be one of the easiest and most accessible versions of FFIV so far, and it's because it helps giving the player more options in terms of spells, making a point of the game a bit more open ended in terms of options to follow. Again, your mileage may vary in this regard.
- Bows and Arrows follow the precedent in FFIII PR, in which the arrows have unlimited charges, allowing the player to use bows and arrows more efficiently, and unlike the 3D versions of the game which restricts the usage of these weapons to Rosa, it keeps the compatibility from the 2D versions, and it also increases the accuracy of the bows and arrows, making it an attractive option for some characters.
- As in FFII PR, party members that leave your party are unequipped automatically, so if you left some precious equipment on them, you won't lose them. A nice and welcoming change, if you ask me.

Let's speak about the plot. You follow Cecil, the captain of the Red Wings, getting him relieved of his duties by the King of Baron after Cecil questioned the reasoning for the order of attacking Mysidia, and then it sends him alongside Kain on a quest to deliver a package to the village of Mist. Following that is a chain of events that sets Cecil and his friends to save the world from the hands of Golbez before he retrieves the remaining Crystals and causing destruction on his path for conquest. And that's just the basics, as I won't detail anything else here in case you haven't played the game before. In terms of plot, it's a more complex affair than in Final Fantasy II, following that template set back then. Speaking of the plot, for the localization of the game, this one goes for the GBA localization for the most part, using the terminology from that version of the game, instead of using the most recent terminology from the 3D versions.

As for the gameplay, it follows the standards set by the previous entry, FFIII, but new to this entry, and becoming the standard for most games to come, is the Active Time Battle system. This is represented by a bar that fills out automatically, which determines when your party members gets a turn to attack or do other actions, and at the same time, enemies also take their turns following the same rules, in turn making the battle system more engaging. In the original, the bar couldn't be seen and it was invisible, and the bar wouldn't be added until the GBA versions. Of course, in this version it can be seen. As for the characters, they have their distinctive capabilities in battle. To take some examples from the beginning of the game:

- Cecil, the Dark Knight is a mostly balanced character with good physical attacks with his Dark Swords.
- Kain, the Dragoon, is a bit more defensive character, whose offensive isn't as good as Cecil, but he compensates this with his Jump command, allowing to inflict double damage with his lances.
- Rydia, the Summoner, can do White Magic, Black Magic and Summons, being quite a versatile mage. However, she's a bit squishy, so being in the backrow is preferred for her.
- Tellah, the Sage, can do both White Magic and Black Magic, but due to his age, he can't remember most of his spells, and his intellect and spirit aren't that great in the grand scheme of things, but he's the best thing you'll have in regards of a mixed mage for a bit, besides Rydia.

And so on and so forth. Each character brings something different to the table, having distinctive strengths and weaknesses. Some characters are better than others, though.

Now, the graphics. it does look mostly like the 2D versions, but not as polished as FFIII PR, which is in my opinion, still the best looking PR game so far. One bit of an odd duck is that the forest tilesets look wrong. I dunno why, but it seems like someone has an issue with tilesets. It's not a biggie for me, though. EDIT (10/01/2021): The forest tiling got fixed as per the latest update, plus some graphical fixes, so that's now a moot point.

The music... hmm... this is a very difficult subject to talk this time. The music in FFIV PR is... interesting. It's not good or bad, but... interesting. There's really good arrangements, and some interesting arrangements to songs, adding something different to them. Let's speak for example of "Hey, Cid!". This song in the PR Remaster has some guitars to add a bit of a spaniard touch. It sounds a bit different, but doesn't make it a bad arrangement. Another example is "Battle with the Four Fiends", which adds some percussion that didn't exist in the original. "Battle Theme 2" adds violins as a main instrument, making for a really interesting approach. Of course, the best songs for me in this version have to go to: "The Red Wings" and "The Final Battle". The former adds a lot more grandiose to it, and the latter sounds more sinister and has a something added (I won't spoil what that something is) that makes for one of the best versions of the song IMHO.

Overall, despite some odd decisions in this version (the difficulty notwithstanding), I'll recommend this version of the game if you didn't experience FFIV before. If you want a more difficult version of this game that will challenge your knowledge about the 2D versions, you can always go for FFIV 3D, which is also on Steam. In any case, you can always decide which version to pick, or both if you feel like it.

Well... that was quite the experience. Final Fantasy III, the last game from the 8-bit trilogy, marks down the start of a new era with mechanics that would be seen in future games.

Returning from the original Final Fantasy is the Job Class System, which was retooled in this game. Instead of picking four job classes for your characters and keeping them for the entire game until they get their upgrades at a certain point, we get to pick and choose which Job Class will have a certain party member at any given time.

A quality of life feature in regards of the Job Class System, is that, unlike the Famicom version that required to spend Capacity Points to switch job classes, and the 3D versions where there's an adjustment period where your stats are reduced, there's no such restrictions in the Pixel Remaster version, allowing to switch job classes as much as you'd like to, pretty much like in Final Fantasy V, having more flexibility in that regard. The job classes have a mixture of features from the Famicom and 3D versions, allowing for some of the job classes to have more utility than the Famicom counterparts, allowing for more experimentation.

The difficulty is an interesting subject. It's not a hard game, but the game also makes you work for it, because the stats of bosses and late-game enemies are higher than in the Famicom version, but not as much as in the 3D version. In the end, it's not so much of an issue, as it ends up balancing stuff much better in the grand scheme of things. A big quality of life feature, which is also shared from the other entries in the Pixel Remaster series, is the quick save feature and the auto save after each floor. I cannot stress enough how much of a godsend this is, because...

(SPOILER ALERT)

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The final set of dungeons becomes much smoother than in the Famicom and 3D versions, where you didn't have the luxury to save in the middle of the dungeon. You only were able to save before starting the gauntlet, and if you got a Game Over? Tough luck, better grind more and try again. Not the case in the Pixel Remaster version, which lessens the pain of this final dungeon by a huge margin, and even adds extra healing points after the point of no return, so overall, this final dungeon became more bearable.

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(SPOILER END)

Now, the story. It's basic, pretty much like Final Fantasy I, as it goes back to how it was in the Famicom versions instead of the 3D versions. Four people are given the task to save the world by reawakening the four crystals. Gee, I have never heard this one before. A basic story with not a lot of fluff. There's emotional moments, though, which can be quite heartwrenching.

The graphics are pretty vintage-looking, in line with the other Pixel Remasters, and I can say that from the three remasters of the NES / Famicom trilogy, this one looks the prettiest of them all, as it looks like it would have been the canceled Wonderswan Color port that didn't happen. The music... I said the same thing about the previous two entries, and the remastered music is nice to the ear, and beautiful, beautiful arrangements. Altar Cave is heartwarming, The Boundless Sea is lonely and desolate. The Four Old Men is whimsical, and so on and so forth. Special mentions go to the final airship song, the music for the final dungeons and the rocking final boss music arrangement.

Overall, a pretty smooth experience, moreso than in Final Fantasy II. I recommend it.

Final Fantasy II is quite the odd duck in the franchise. This is going to be quite a bit of a lengthy review, so please bear with me.

On one hand, it introduces staples from the franchise like Cid, Chocobos and a stronger narrative which would become the norm since FFIV, but on the other hand, the mechanics for this game couldn't be more different than the rest of the franchise, considering it would be more akin to the SaGa games. It can be kind of opaque and confusing to grasp at first, but having an understanding of these mechanics can get you really far.

First, we'll start with the gameplay. This FF iteration doesn't have a level up system, but instead, you gain stats randomly after each battle depending on your actions. This means that you can mold your characters the way you want to, as everyone can equip everything, but keep in mind that there's better pieces of equipment than others for certain roles, and this is because of a thing that isn't revealed to you in-game: Spirit / Intellect penalties. In short, there's pieces of armor that can be detrimental for you to cast spells, as it nerfs your mages significantly. For example, equipping a Shield to a dedicated White Mage / Black Mage character would nerf their potential, and this restriction makes it so a more physically offensive character wouldn't use Spells as effectively as a Mage-dedicated class. I don't mind this, as this is for balancing purposes, and it adds a layer of strategy that wasn't seen in the previous game.

Of course, there's this thing called "difficulty". It can be easy or hard, depending on how well seasoned you are with the gameplay mechanics. Here's two tips for this journey that can help you a lot:

1. In the early game, attack yourself without getting killed to get HP and stamina. This will help you with the early game hell, and whatever you do, DON'T GO TO THE FAR WEST OF GATREA OR ALTAIR, OR FAR TOO NORTH FROM FYNN RIGHT OUT THE GATE, AS THE ENEMIES ARE WAY TOO ADVANCED FOR THE EARLY GAME AND YOU'LL GET KILLED IN RESPONSE.

2. Shields (for DPS characters) and evasion-increasing weapons are going to be your friends. They're essential for agility increases, as there's a higher chance to get an agility point the more evasion percentage you have. Agility is a very important stat, as it increases the chances of going first and reducing the chances for ambushes.

*phew* That was a lot for just gameplay, but really, that's the meat and potatoes for this game, as understanding them at its fullest can get you really far.

Now, the story. Back in the day, the story for this game was quite revolutionary for a Final Fantasy game, as it tells the story of a Rebel Army that's opposing the Palamecian Empire, and the characters had "personalities". It's more in air quotes, because they're kinda basic. Firion is the good guy, Maria is the girl of the group, and Guy is like the dumb muscle. This is a deep contrast from the previous iteration, which was a simple story of reviving the crystals to save the world, and the characters you had were blank slates for you to control.

The graphics are quite on par with the previous game for the Pixel Remaster, so I don't have any complaints in that regard, and the music? Excellent arrangements. I didn't notice a "meh" song this time around, and hey, the Chocobo theme is the full version instead of the four bars that was the original one. My stand-out song for this remaster, has to go to the final dungeon music. It's simply... sublime and foreboding. Really makes you feel like you're prepping up for the final battle.

Overall, even if this is the odd duck in the franchise, I'd say I can recommend it, providing that you can have a grasp of the deep mechanics this game has. it also includes the QoL features from the FFI remaster: Quick Save anywhere, even in dungeons, running button, a map to check where you need to go and track the chests you may have missed, and the arranged soundtrack I have mentioned before. I just had a blast with this game, but I can see why people wouldn't like this one, and that's perfectly understandable.

A classic from old ages remastered for a new era. For the first time on PC, it's the original Final Fantasy. Even if it doesn't include the extra content from the GBA and PSP ports, the idea of these ports is to recreate an experience for the modern age. I have played the GBA version, and I can say that I like some QoL features introduced in this port:

- Forced encounters are now represented as NPCs or monster-in-a-box chests (this one is from the FF games from 2 onwards).
- Experience levels are adjusted so the leveling process goes faster, therefore, the game is on the easy side for the most part.
- The spell system goes back to the spell charge system from the original and PS1 version. You would think that maybe this would make spell usage impractical, but I see this as a welcoming change, as you have to think on when to use the spells sparingly. Of course there's items that can cast spells, which can alleviate this problem, allowing you to save the MP for the bosses.
- New to this version is also the auto battle system, which makes battles faster, you can even set actions to do with auto battle in order to clear battles even quicker.

The graphics are nice-looking. It's not 3D or anything, but I like how it looks. The music, dear gosh, the music... it has been rearranged for this version, and it sounds really great. Only one song I kind of say "meh" is the airship one, but if that's the only song that was the black spot on an otherwise great soundtrack, that says something.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with this version of Final Fantasy. I recommend it.

Plants vs. Zombies is quite the addictive tower defense game, where you protect the house from goofy-looking zombies, using a variety of flowers and varierty of plants, mushrooms and such. It's quite the relaxing game, and if well the adventure mode is short, it has a lot of replayability with the Adventure Mode replay mode, the Mini-Games, the Puzzle modes, Survival Mode, and also getting upgrades for plants and taking care of stuff at the Zen Garden for some pretty pennies. For a simple game, it has a lot of depth, and the variety of plants makes it open for various strategies.

The graphics are cartoony and vibrant, quite the charming game for his age. As for the music, it has a lot of catchy tunes, composed by Laura Shigihara, bringing a lot of the charm for the music composed for this game.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely! This is a modern classic that can be enjoyed for most people. Just make sure that to get the zombies off your lawn, will ya?

The latest game from the Touhou franchise, and, if I may add, the first Touhou game to debut worldwide with the digital version first, so we had the chance to play the game at the same time as japanese people.

This new entry of the franchise has the standard gameplay you would expect from a Touhou game, but this entry adds an interesting mechanic: Ability Cards, which you can use to give buffs to your character, adds some equipment cards, or add active abilities to use. You only have 1 slot at first, but you can get up to 3 slots, and this allows to improvise strategies, and each time you finish a stage, you get access to a shop in which you can get items to improve your abilities further, in which you use the Gold that's dropped from the enemies, but the stock is a bit random, save for the fixed items, so it adds a sort of roguelike feel to this shoot'em up game, as not always you'll get the same item in two different playthroughs, so luck plays a factor.

Because of this, enemies can be a bit tanky if you don't carry the correct combination of cards. My favorite character to play on this one is Reimu, because, unlike her demo iteration, she got buffed significantly, making her the character of choice alongside Sanae to 1cc the game. Also, this can be quite the difficult game. It's not on the level of SA, UFO and LoLK, but due to the tanky enemies and bosses, it can be quite a hassle to get through. Also, it can be kinda punishing at times, because each time you lose a life, you lose 1.0 power and a certain amount of gold, which you use to get the items from the shop. Luckily you can get plenty of resources with either the luck of the shop to get the special item, or with the right combination of cards. Remember, Spell Practice is your friend.

The graphics are your standard ZUN fare. His artwork may be his kind of usual ZUN-styled artwork, but it's charming in a way. One thing about this game is the rainbow motif, therefore, it's quite a colorful game, and in my humble opinion, quite pretty.

And the music, also your standard ZUN fare, with new tracks to hear and enjoy (which will get remixed by fans, obviously). Of course, depending of the person, some people may like better some tracks than others. In my case, my stand-outs are: Stage 3 theme, Stage 3 boss theme, Stage 4 boss theme, Stage 6 boss theme (it can take some listens due to how weird and unusual this track can be), Extra Stage theme, and the Extra Stage boss theme.

Overall, I recommend this game. It's pretty addictive because of the new card mechanics, which makes you want to experiment with combinations and getting new cards to use.

A game of truth, lies and deceptions. Do you believe your partner? Do you suspect your partner? How can you make people trust you? How can you deceive people? This game brings a lot of questions into the table, despite the simplistic and rather repetitive nature.

The fun in the game is playing with friends and people you know, because that's where the game shines through: Social interactions, and putting those through the test. I don't recommend playing this on public lobbies, it's not as fun that way.

So therefore, I recommend this game for those who like games from this type, like Werewolf, Mafia, or even games like Town of Salem, and even then I still recommend it, and also, it's pretty cheap. Just keep in mind that it's better to play it with friends and people you know.